Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Use of propofol to manage seizure activity after surgical treatment of portosystemic shunts.
- Journal:
- The Journal of small animal practice
- Year:
- 1999
- Authors:
- Heldmann, E et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Clinical Studies · United States
Plain-English summary
This study looked at using a medication called propofol, which is usually used as an anesthetic, to help control seizures in four cats and one dog that had seizures after surgery for a condition called portosystemic shunts (where blood bypasses the liver). Two of these pets had seizures that didn’t respond to other seizure medications. The veterinarians gave them propofol in lower doses through an IV to help manage the seizures. Unfortunately, only two out of the five animals showed a good recovery after treatment, which is similar to what has been seen in earlier studies.
Abstract
The anaesthetic agent propofol has anticonvulsant properties and has been used in the treatment of refractory status epilepticus in human medicine. This report describes the use of propofol in four cats and one dog with naturally occurring seizures following surgical attenuation of single extrahepatic portosystemic shunts. Two of the animals had seizures that were unresponsive to other anticonvulsants. Subanaesthetic doses of intravenous propofol (1.0 to 3.5 mg/kg boluses and 0.01 to 0.25 mg/kg/minute continuous rate infusions) were used to control the seizures in all animals. However, a good neurological outcome was achieved in only two of the five cases, which is similar to the situation in previous reports.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10664958/